help with dosing red sea trace colors

[tenurepro]

Hi All,
I am hoping someone from redsea can double-check my math...
i have a redsea reefer 250, with about 200 Liters of water.

I am currently dosing 2 ml of Redsea foundation buffer A (calcium) per day; the redsea buffer is made from powder, as per redsea's instructions: 1 kg in 1.8 Liters, for a concentration of 550 g/liter. According to my calculations, 2 ml of buffer A = 2 ppm Ca in a 200 L tank.

on the bottle it says: add 3.6 ml of every measuring spoon (20 g) of red sea foundation Calcium powder....

i dose 2 ml, of 550 g / liter of (550 g / 1000 ml = 0.55 g/ml). so 2 ml of foundation buffer = 1.1 g
so, i should dose 3.6 ml / 20 g * 1.1 g = 0.198 ml per day (or 1.386 ml per week) of each color supplement.

is that correct ?

 

[SashimiTurtle]

Red Sea's math has always been REALLY confusing to me. I'm tagging along as I want to start the colors to go along with my foundation. I mixed up the powders as I was helped on here, then figured out a standard measurement, then promptly forgot it... lol. I'm using 1ml A and 3ml B a day. It's probably all the kg and g/liter and ml/liter confusing me.

 

[dbl]

I'm not from Red Sea, but it is my understanding you dose the colors at 10% of what you dose the foundation A (calcium). So if you're dosing 20mg of calcium, you would dose 2mg of the colors. I hope that's close to being correct since that's what I've been doing for 2.5 years now...lol.

I do think it's different if you're using the ABC+ Foundation.

 

[tenurepro]

I'm not from Red Sea, but it is my understanding you dose the colors at 10% of what you dose the foundation A (calcium). So if you're dosing 20mg of calcium, you would dose 2mg of the colors. I hope that's close to being correct since that's what I've been doing for 2.5 years now...lol.

I do think it's different if you're using the ABC+ Foundation.

10% of 2 ml of foundation A (from powder) is 0.2 ml which is nearly identical to my 0.198 ml estimated above; that's a bit reassuring.

Ps. I am not actually dosing foundation ABC. Foundation A is sold as a liquid or as a 1 kg powder that must be made into solution before dosing; I buy the powder

 

[Damien Buckley]

Wow. You're not dosing much calcium. I'm at 16ml Foundation A per day.

I dose 1ml/d of Colors A and manually whack in 3ml per week of Colors C/D. I don't add B as my Triton tests always come back with sufficient potassium etc - I think Coral Pro salt has enough in it.

I'm going more on actual test results than the dosing calculation but I think your calculations are right.

Foundation A powder mixes to the same strength as the liquid. Foundation B powder stock is 1/3 strength.

Red Sea dosing instruction for Coral Colors is a paradox.

Just for the record, when I had the crazy GHA blowout, Underwater Creations (Vibrant) suggested I pull the pin on the Coral Colors which is why I took Colors C/D off the doser. I'm just adding a random 3ml/week to keep an amount in the system. Interested in my next Triton test as I switched to Colors A (ran out of the Kent Marine Iodine which lasted me 15 years lol) since the last one I sent in.

 

[tenurepro]

Wow. You're not dosing much calcium. I'm at 16ml Foundation A per day.

I dose 1ml/d of Colors A and manually whack in 3ml per week of Colors C/D. I don't add B as my Triton tests always come back with sufficient potassium etc - I think Coral Pro salt has enough in it.

I'm going more on actual test results than the dosing calculation but I think your calculations are right.

Foundation A powder mixes to the same strength as the liquid. Foundation B powder stock is 1/3 strength.

Red Sea dosing instruction for Coral Colors is a paradox.

Just for the record, when I had the crazy GHA blowout, Underwater Creations (Vibrant) suggested I pull the pin on the Coral Colors which is why I took Colors C/D off the doser. I'm just adding a random 3ml/week to keep an amount in the system. Interested in my next Triton test as I switched to Colors A (ran out of the Kent Marine Iodine which lasted me 15 years lol) since the last one I sent in.

Thanks D. You are right - i dose very little foundation buffer A, but that is because most of my calcium demand is supplied via kalkwasser in the ato. The amount of calcium from kalkwaser is not trivial to calculate so I am going to start with levels based on foundation A + a little fudge factor.

I don't really know if the coral color supplements will do anything. It's was an impulse buy really. I picked up the small comb package of the colors program from an LFS yesterday. Because I don't do regular water changes, and only dose Alk/ca/mg, I thought that there may be a benefit to adding trace elements as well.

I am waiting on a triton test package however, before dosing. Want to know where my levels are at at the moment

 

[tenurepro]

Wow. You're not dosing much calcium. I'm at 16ml Foundation A per day.

I dose 1ml/d of Colors A and manually whack in 3ml per week of Colors C/D. I don't add B as my Triton tests always come back with sufficient potassium etc - I think Coral Pro salt has enough in it.

I'm going more on actual test results than the dosing calculation but I think your calculations are right.

Foundation A powder mixes to the same strength as the liquid. Foundation B powder stock is 1/3 strength.

Red Sea dosing instruction for Coral Colors is a paradox.

Just for the record, when I had the crazy GHA blowout, Underwater Creations (Vibrant) suggested I pull the pin on the Coral Colors which is why I took Colors C/D off the doser. I'm just adding a random 3ml/week to keep an amount in the system. Interested in my next Triton test as I switched to Colors A (ran out of the Kent Marine Iodine which lasted me 15 years lol) since the last one I sent in.

Hi D. I decided to dose based on calcium consumption in ppm because most of my ca demand is covered by kalkwaser. I estimated that my tank consumes about 10 ppm ca per day. After crunching the numbers, I came out with 1 ml per day per color, close to what you dose. Started doing so tonight so we will see how it goes. I also decided not to dose the potassium because my levels are really high; salifert kit indicated 460 ppm. Dosing potassium nitrate is likely responsible for this

 

[GoVols]

I'm not from Red Sea, but it is my understanding you dose the colors at 10% of what you dose the foundation A (calcium). So if you're dosing 20mg of calcium, you would dose 2mg of the colors. I hope that's close to being correct since that's what I've been doing for 2.5 years now...lol.

I do think it's different if you're using the ABC+ Foundation.

dbl,
I've been using the ABC+ for almost a year. (Come late October)
The ABC+ raises all the big three at once and it already has colors A and B in that product.

So, I dose colors C & D with the ABC+ powder.

For the ABC+ you dose 1ml of colors C & D / to every 13.3 grams of the ABC+ powder.

Freddie

 

[GoVols]

Hi D. I decided to dose based on calcium consumption in ppm because most of my ca demand is covered by kalkwaser. I estimated that my tank consumes about 10 ppm ca per day. After crunching the numbers, I came out with 1 ml per day per color, close to what you dose. Started doing so tonight so we will see how it goes. I also decided not to dose the potassium because my levels are really high; salifert kit indicated 460 ppm. Dosing potassium nitrate is likely responsible for this

"Mixed Reef & SPS Dominant systems - Dosing by calcium (coral growth) demand Calculate the daily or weekly dose of each supplement according to the dosage of Red Sea’s Foundation™ supplements or to a known uptake of calcium. (Add 1ml of Color supplement for every 20ppm of Calcium added per 100 liters (25 gal) of aquarium water or for every 2g of calcium uptake.)"

 

[Andy G]

Hi all,

Follow up question on ABCD dosing. I understand you should dose it with calcium.

But my tank doesn't have a significant weekly Calcium consumption. Almost every week I'm above 450 just by dosing Kalk and bi-weeky water changes. I just dose Cal of i go below 450.

Most of my tank is LPS and softies, but I just got 7 SPS frags.

Can I still dose them to get better coloration?

Based on your experience, do you have any suggested ratios? eg. 2 times A&B vs. 1 time C&D

I use RedSea Energy A+B on a dialy basis.

Thanks in advance!

 

[GoVols]

Hi all,

Follow up question on ABCD dosing. I understand you should dose it with calcium.

But my tank doesn't have a significant weekly Calcium consumption. Almost every week I'm above 450 just by dosing Kalk and bi-weeky water changes. I just dose Cal of i go below 450.

Most of my tank is LPS and softies, but I just got 7 SPS frags.

Can I still dose them to get better coloration?

Based on your experience, do you have any suggested ratios? eg. 2 times A&B vs. 1 time C&D

I use RedSea Energy A+B on a dialy basis.

Thanks in advance!

Andy,
Stop dosing kalk and use pure alk, then see how much your cal drops per day without dosing kalk.

Freddie

 

[DHill6]

@GoVols
I'm using TM Pro salt, my CA is always 460-500 testing with Elos kit. Mg seems little low so I bump that using Triton Mg. Red Sea sent me boxes of their products, I'm presently using A+B at 1ml per week, started off slow. I do a wc either weekly or every other week. What would you suggest if I wanted to use their program or parts of it to give elements a boost. I don't see any algae problems but I don't want to gain hair algae either. They base the dosing on CA level if I'm understanding this right, my CA level is always high. I have acans, acan maxima, 2 chalice, blasto, Red Hawaiian anemone,welso-scoly hybrid with one SPS, JF Homewrecker.
Reefer 170, 43g including sump, using sock, Nyos skimmer with PH media attached, Radion Pro 30 for lighting.
Alk 8.6
CA 490
MG 1250
N03 1
p04 .11
Any thoughts would be helpful
Red Sea sent... N03 P04, Foundation ABC, Colors ABCD, Foundation Pro test kit, Algae Control Pro Test Kit, and Reef Energy A+B

 

[DHill6]

Interesting, a double post, I wasn't signed in first so it seems after signing in it posts again. Sorry

 

[dbl]

Interesting, a double post, I wasn't signed in first so it seems after signing in it posts again. Sorry

What double post...wink, wink. It's all good.

 

[BostonBill]

Red Sea's math has always been REALLY confusing to me. I'm tagging along as I want to start the colors to go along with my foundation. I mixed up the powders as I was helped on here, then figured out a standard measurement, then promptly forgot it... lol. I'm using 1ml A and 3ml B a day. It's probably all the kg and g/liter and ml/liter confusing me.

So am i

 

[GoVols]

So am i

Let's give this a shot...

Red Sea Color's (trace element) Program

Dosing by calcium demand:
Calculate the daily or weekly dosage of each Color Supplement according to your reef's known uptake (consumption) of calcium.

For every 20ppm of calcium that is consumed (coral's growth uptake) per every 25 gallons of aquarium water, dose 1ml of (all four) Red Sea's Color Supplements.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Welp, BostonBill
You need to test your calcium (every 24 hours at the same time each day) to see how much your reef consumes (uptakes) calcium or drops in ppm per day or days if you stop dosing calcium.

1) Raise your calcium to 440ppm, then stop dosing calcium.

That will tell you how much calcium that your reef intakes per day.

Example:
Say you're holding 75 gallons

2) See how many days it takes to drop from 440ppm to 420ppm / that would be a 20ppm uptake of calcium per your 75 gallons.

25 gallons x 3 = 75 gallons.

Since its, per every 25 gallons
At that point, you would dose 3mls of all four Color Supplements to your 75 gallons.

Then you can hold your calcium where you like and know how much of all four Colors that you can dose.

Dose their trace elements on the low side to play it safe.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

For future readers:
If your reef is new and not intaking calcium do not dose the Red Sea Colors program.

It's made for adding back, trace elements into your reef, once your reef is intaking (both) calcium and alkalinity.

 

[adsf430]

"Mixed Reef & SPS Dominant systems - Dosing by calcium (coral growth) demand Calculate the daily or weekly dose of each supplement according to the dosage of Red Sea’s Foundation™ supplements or to a known uptake of calcium. (Add 1ml of Color supplement for every 20ppm of Calcium added per 100 liters (25 gal) of aquarium water or for every 2g of calcium uptake.)"

Does anyone know what 2g converts to in ml for the liquid red sea foundation supplement